Uppercut Danseteater (DK)
Benched (Aarhus Summerdance)
FREE EVENTS IN MUSIKHUSPARKEN
August 16th, 21:00 & 17th, 2025, 16:00
Where do you belong - and do you dare to take a new place? BENCHED is a raw, physical and poetic dance performance about finding your place in life. Five dancers balance on the bench of life in an explosive fusion of street dance, capoeira and contemporary dance.
Take a seat! Sit down! You’re benched! Dismounted! Assembled! Are you sitting in the right place?
BENCHED is a brutally honest story about life’s big and small questions. About sitting in the right place. About daring to sit crooked, about sitting crosswise, about being sat, sat down or benched. About taking, making and giving space, and preferably remembering to do it before you fall on your arse where the bench ends.
In BENCHED, five male dancers throw, scramble and cling to an elongated bench in the hope of finding a meaningful place in a chaotic world. With the performance, Uppercut Dance Theatre brings the dilemmas of individual society to the forefront as the dancers are forced to choose their battles and fight for what they are truly passionate about. BENCHED is an eternally relevant work about finding your place and settling in on the bench of life.
In classic Uppercut style, the performance offers a fusion of contemporary dance, break dance, street dance, capoeira, acrobatics and physical theatre. It is created without rules, but from a liberated joy of dance and a strong artistic curiosity about the possibilities of moving and being moved in the situations that can arise when people meet.
Reviews
“…[In Benched] Stephanie Thomasen proves that she is not only an inventive, humorous and vividly narrative choreographer, but also an excellent director.There is space, balance and drama in her images, making it a complete dance performance.”
– Morten Hede, Jyllands-Posten
“The five of them could throw themselves around a long black bench in a fusion of street and modern dance as if it were a springy launch pad. (…) Playfully cool symbiosis between men and bench.”
– Monna Dithmer, Politiken
“Stephanie Thomasen’s choreographic talent is simply indisputable.”
– Majbritt Hjelmsbo, Weekendavisen
“You just have to go and experience this unique company before they jump even further out onto the world stage, where they rightfully belong.”
– Dorthe Grannov Balslev, ISCENE.dk
“Superb dancers: supremely muscular and agile, totally fearless and at the same time disciplined. (…) It is these five dancers from Uppercut Dance Theatre who manage to make the performance ‘Benched’ an eminent dance experience on an international level.”
– Anne Middelboe Christensen, Teateravisen.dk
“BENCHED exudes energy, and at the end you almost have to fight to stay seated, because the infectious physicality from the five dancers spreads to the entire audience: Uppercut Dance Theatre – at its most playful and light.”
– Michael Søby, CPH Culture
“It’s hard not to get carried away from start to finish.”
– Michael Svennevig, Ørkendrømme
About Uppercut Danseteater (DK)
Uppercut Danseteater has been creating powerful performances for adults, youth, and children for over 40 years. The company blends contemporary dance, breakdance, and theatre into a dynamic expression that challenges norms and offers physical responses to life’s big questions.
Founded in 1982 by Cher Geurtze and Ann Crooset, Uppercut was among Denmark’s first publicly funded contemporary dance companies. Today, it is led by Stephanie Thomasen and Mark Philip, who have evolved its signature style through works like SAMBA, PANIC DAY, and 360°.
Known for its physical virtuosity and fusion of styles such as capoeira, breaking, and contemporary, the company’s performances strike a balance between dark aesthetics and unexpected humor. Uppercut has received multiple Reumert nominations and awards, and collaborates widely with schools, theaters, and international artists.
Based at Dansekapellet in Copenhagen, Uppercut tours both nationally and internationally, continuing to challenge and inspire audiences of all ages.
Website: uppercutdanseteater.dk
Credits
Idea, concept & choreography:
Stephanie Thomasen
Stage design:
Johan Kølkjær
Lighting design:
Peter Løkke
Music:
35th Parallel
René Aubry
Estas Tonne
Rodrigo y Gabriela
Dancers:
Mark Philip
Jens Schyth Brøndum
Adam Tocuyo
Patrick Afuale Eirup
Mahamat Fofana
The performance is supported by
The Danish Arts Foundation